Oak Ridge against Farragut

[Former44]

As is often the case when these two teams get together, the score was not indicative of the game and the outcome was determined by inopportune penalties and turnovers.

 The Farragut offense wasn’t able to do much running or passing against the Oak Ridge defense in the second half. I actually thought both teams got away from the run a little too much at times. 

The Oak Ridge 4th down option play was a bit of a head scratcher for me, for the most part because it hadn’t been run at any other time in the game and, if I remember correctly, it was into the boundary and I thought the QB/RB pitch relationship was a bit tight. At the same time, Farragut was up by 3 scores in the fourth quarter and started two drives off with incomplete passes… why throw it at all?

I was glad Farragut was able to capitalize on a couple of the mistakes, but I came away thinking the Admirals were fortunate to get out with a win.  If Oak Ridge doesn’t turn the ball over in plus territory (back to back penalties on the one possession didn’t help either), the outcome might have been entirely different.

Good luck to the ‘Cats the rest of the way. Clean up the offensive mistakes, because that defense will keep you guys in every game.

Edited September 10, 2022 by Former44

[KnoxVil]

Didn’t see a shutout coming. Hopefully the Cats get healthy and right the ship. We’re the Ads able to stop the run game? I bet they gave up over 1000 in their first 3 games.

[ForTheRidge]

Just now, KnoxVil said:

Didn’t see a shutout coming. Hopefully the Cats get healthy and right the ship. We’re the Ads able to stop the run game? I bet they gave up over 1000 in their first 3 games.

We helped them a lot, kept stopping ourselves  

[SweetScience]

11 minutes ago, KnoxVil said:

Didn’t see a shutout coming. Hopefully the Cats get healthy and right the ship. We’re the Ads able to stop the run game? I bet they gave up over 1000 in their first 3 games.

Dozier had well over 100 yards, so I definitely wouldn’t say they were able to stop it by any means. They did what they had to do though, along with a lot of help from us with 3 lost fumbles and a plethora of penalties, bad snaps, and everything else you could think of. OR is just not a sound team at all right now. Might eventually get there, but far from it now.

[Mavericksinflight]

OR has to get better they have talent they just need to get all cylinders going. But they don't have much time.

[Bluegreymom]

4 hours ago, SweetScience said:

I just think a really good team last night would’ve blown us out of the water, that’s how bad we were. Farragut is a good team, I don’t mean to say they aren’t, but I didn’t come away highly impressed. With the short fields we gave them all night long it could’ve easily been a 49-0 type game. But I guess you have to give our defense credit for that too. 

Agreed. For the amount of mistakes OR made, I wasn’t super impressed with the final score. I think OR defense definitely deserves some credit for why it wasn’t way worse. 
I feel like both teams are quality but I don’t think it’s either team’s best year. New QB’s, line issues…I did think OR’s run defense was impressive. I thought Farragut’s run defense still struggled some  but was much improved and able to get stops when it counted. But yeah, assuming both teams get to playoffs- both will face better teams then they did last night. Then again, where you start isn’t always where you finish so hopefully improvements get made. For Farragut it comes down to line play and QB gaining enough experience to make the right decisions in high pressure situations. They’ve got to be able to consistently stop the run. If those things get shored up, we’d be in business. 

[STILLNUM1]

Oak Ridge is coming off the worst season I can remember in my lifetime.Besides the record so many aspects of the team was really bad.They have new coaches and system all the way around.They have a new QB that has a long way to go before he is comfortable being a starter in 5a.He lost 3 of his top 4 of  targets by end of week 1.To say quit making injury excuses is just stupid.They are very real facts of what we are dealing with.Its not the coaches fault that kids are fumbling,dropping passes and making bad mistakes that they are not coached to do.A new coach cant fix all those bad habits and culture in 6 or 7 months.He has had maybe 2 months of practice time with them.All he said was 3 shouldve never fielded that punt where he did.He also said he loves him to death and has bragged on him every time you put a mic in his face.He also said he is HC and took full responsibility at beginning of interview.It amazes me that people would blame a coach that just got here.The defense looks good and they have worked magic on the DLine.The offense has the same Oline problem but somehow a little better after losing everybody.The QB has to get better but I think he will with reps.I never want to be the guy that thinks they know what plays to call but I have no problem with anything Ive seen.I have actually seen some they schemed up that was perfect but QB misses throw or WR drops it.We have played 4 games and have a long way to go.This HC has proved he can get it done and I cant wait to see it.By the way I have went to practice at least 25% of the time and love what I see.Not a shot at last staff but huge improvement

[Former44]

5 hours ago, Bluegreymom said:

Agreed. For the amount of mistakes OR made, I wasn’t super impressed with the final score. I think OR defense definitely deserves some credit for why it wasn’t way worse. 
I feel like both teams are quality but I don’t think it’s either team’s best year. New QB’s, line issues…I did think OR’s run defense was impressive. I thought Farragut’s run defense still struggled some  but was much improved and able to get stops when it counted. But yeah, assuming both teams get to playoffs- both will face better teams then they did last night. Then again, where you start isn’t always where you finish so hopefully improvements get made. For Farragut it comes down to line play and QB gaining enough experience to make the right decisions in high pressure situations. They’ve got to be able to consistently stop the run. If those things get shored up, we’d be in business. 

It would be helpful to the DL and the defense overall, especially against the run IMO, if Farragut could rotate a couple of the bigger bodies from the OL to get some reps at DT - like Walker did last year but with a rotation of a couple of players rather than just one. Sentell played well at DT last year prior to his injury and Mohr’s push was instrumental in the goal line stand against Beech.

Of course, there is always a risk, particularly with Farragut already thin at OL and a starter currently out. However, with the meat of the region schedule coming up, it might be something to consider.

[catswild]

On 9/9/2022 at 10:50 PM, SweetScience said:

Any OR fan that predicted a 10-0 season, or any supposed OR fan who predicted a blowout win tonight, I actually question if they’re either brainless, or really are OR fans, or just here to cause a stir. Any OR fan that has any sense whatsoever knows (knew) better. No, you aren’t crazy for thinking this way, Nut. We do have a LONG way to go. For us to be a good team we’re gonna have to clean up the penalties and turnovers. We literally killed ourselves tonight. Moved the ball up and down the field all night long, but we continue to shoot ourselves in the foot. The run blocking has improved dramatically, but our passing game is just god awful, to put it mildly.

With all of the talent OR has, I thought 10-0 was possible. We could've beaten Bearden, Farragut isn't as good as normal, Greenville isn't as good as last year, Powell isn't as good as last year, DB lost a lot of starters...and I picked OR to win 31-21...not a blowout. I still stand by what I said...OR will have more talent than anyone OR plays, but we won't be 10-0. At this point, I'll go with 7-3 and a deep playoff run! Something else...why didn't we use our timeouts before the half? And two other questions, one about each team...why did OR bleed the clock when they had the ball in the last 5-6 minutes of the game? That made no sense to me at all...there was no sense of urgency...we were running out the clock on ourselves!!! And why did Farragut throw a single pass in the last 5-6 minutes? That made no sense to me either...they're up 24 and stopping the clock on purpose or risking a pick six. Wait...maybe they passed the ball because they knew OR was bleeding the clock on ourselves...it was taking OR forever to get a play off when we should've been in two minute mode. Oh well...time to move I suppose

[Cactus Jack]

All in all it was a pretty hard game to watch from the Oak Ridge point of view.  The pattern seemed to be set after their first score which was a 3rd and 20 conversion for a touchdown.  OR answered with a nice drive, got all the way to the 8 I think, then a false start, followed by an illegal procedure and now they are in a passing situation and the snap is fumbled and Farragut picks it up and runs it all the way down to the OR 45. Got to clean that stuff up, no matter who plays. Also, cannot and should not field a punt inside your own 10, let it go, if they down it, so be it, hopefully it goes in the end zone. A 7-0 game went to 14-0 right there Christmas early for the Admirals. After the initial drive the OR defense did a pretty good job, no long drives and scores only on short fields by turnovers. So, first they have to clean up the turnover and penalty issues, that are stalling drives that has hurt them in every game, win or lose. Friday night OR had more first downs, more yards but 4 fumbles, losing 3, 2 of which directly led to Farragut scores. As for the injured, I hope they are paying attention, so when they do come back, they will be ready. Now, this is day one again, move on to Lenoir City, take it one game at a time. Farragut and Bearden are not Region losses, Concentrate on winning the Region and getting a home field in the playoffs.

[WillieTheWildcats]

On 9/10/2022 at 12:08 PM, Mavericksinflight said:

OR has to get better they have talent they just need to get all cylinders going. But they don't have much time.

I agree OR needs to get better but there is still time to get the Wildcats ready for the playoffs. 

[Bluegreymom]

On 9/10/2022 at 6:50 PM, Former44 said:

It would be helpful to the DL and the defense overall, especially against the run IMO, if Farragut could rotate a couple of the bigger bodies from the OL to get some reps at DT - like Walker did last year but with a rotation of a couple of players rather than just one. Sentell played well at DT last year prior to his injury and Mohr’s push was instrumental in the goal line stand against Beech.

Of course, there is always a risk, particularly with Farragut already thin at OL and a starter currently out. However, with the meat of the region schedule coming up, it might be something to consider.

I agree with you. I think we are so thin at O line right now tho, I just don’t see them taking any chances unless/until they have to. Sentell and Mohr are both awesome and could definitely be beneficial- I agree.